John Cross on Arsene Wenger: A whole season unbeaten? What an achievement

Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. And as Wenger approaches his 1,000th game in charge of Arsenal, there has to be an argument that he is the best.

If you judge it over the past nine years then Wenger's CV is missing silverware and if a manager is judged purely on success then Fergie would win hands down.

In fact, many would think Fergie does anyway because he brought sustained success to Manchester United, broke all the records, won titles year after year.

Mourinho has brought us showbiz, glamour and controversy as well as success to Chelsea. The self-proclaimed Special One looks as if he is as hungry for success now as in his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge.

But Wenger's 18 year reign in charge of Arsenal has brought more than just success. And, yes, there has been success. From 1996 to 2005, there were Premier League titles, FA Cups and history with the Invincibles.

A whole season unbeaten? Just think about that for a moment. What an achievement. Surely building the greatest and best team in Premier League history takes some beating.

Wenger also did it with style, always playing with flair and grace. That's why I also admire Fergie so much – he always set out to attack and win with style.

But, for the past nine years, Wenger has worked under different circumstances. The landscape has changed. The club's move to the Emirates has meant less to spend on players and wages and they have had to budget and build for the future. It's been a new and different challenge. Could Fergie have done it? Probably. Could Mourinho? I don't think he'd have hung around.

Wenger helped design the stadium, oversee the club's long term vision and philosophy and he's done all that on a budget and kept them competitive.

Yes, there's been mistakes along the way. Losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham would have eased so much pressure. His stubbornness in the transfer market has been frustrating for fans who still have to pay top dollar for tickets.

But it's all been done on a budget. It's the classic example of finding out just how good a manager if he's not got as much to spend as his rivals. And the magic of Wenger is that he's always kept Arsenal competitive.

That's why this week, as Wenger approaches his 1,000th game, he deserves to be remembered as one of English football's all-time greats. And, in the Premier League era, arguably the greatest of all.

David McDonnell on Sir Alex Ferguson: 'There can be only one winner'

Sir Alex Ferguson is unquestionably the best manager the Premier League has ever seen. His roll call of honours, which includes 13 league titles, as well as five FA Cups, four League Cups, two Champions Leagues, European Cup Winners' Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Intercontinental Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

He transformed Manchester United from a sleeping giant into the country's dominant football force, replacing arch rivals Liverpool as the No.1 team and forcing them into a lengthy period in the domestic wilderness similar to that which his own club had ensured for so long.

Indeed, United's current malaise under Ferguson's successor, David Moyes, proves just how formidable the 72-year-old Scot was as a manager and why there can be no dispute over his status as the best the game has ever seen on these shores.

Mourinho may have won two Champions Leagues with different clubs, as well as titles wherever he has managed, and Wenger may have transformed the culture at Arsenal, ensuring they have enjoyed their most successful period in their history, reaching the Champions League in 16 successive seasons, but neither has delivered sustained glory with the same ruthless consistency as Ferguson.

United never finished outside the Premier League's top three under Ferguson, who built four great sides during his glittering Old Trafford tenure, reinventing the team time and time again, to ensure he kept his club at the summit of English football, rarely falling below the peerless standard he set through his success.

So when debating the identity of the best manager, there can be only one winner - Ferguson.

Irascible, belligerent, uncompromising and a bully, but a man whose sheer force of will and personality guaranteed success. As Moyes struggles to maintain the extraordinary standards set by his predecessor, taking the champions backwards towards mid-table mediocrity, Ferguson's greatness becomes even more apparent.

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Martin Lipton on Jose Mourinho: 'The greatest manager on the planet'

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He is, without question, the most quotable. The best press conference value. The most combative and confrontational too.

But the Special One truly IS a special one. Is the greatest manager on the planet.

And while there are times when Jose Mourinho makes you shake your head in disbelief, wonder what made him believe certain fights were worth fighting, there aren't too many top players who wouldn't want him to be the man in their dug-out.

What all players want from their gaffer is the feeling that he knows better than them, more than them.

That if things are going wrong, he will find the solution. Can transform things. Can shift events.

Mourinho can. Mourinho does.

Trophies, alone, do not define a manager. But they help to justify status.

So what can you say about a man who has won the Champions League with two different clubs? Has won league titles in four countries? Has a silverware count of 16 (even if you ignore the various versions of the Community Shield he has lifted)?

Simply that he is the greatest tactician, leader and thinker of his generation, perhaps any generation.

Yes, he has had money to spend. But so have plenty of others, without anything like Mourinho's success.

He has his flaws, too. That penchant for trouble, for creating fights when they don't exist, for peddling ludicrous conspiracy theories.

That is all part of his act, though, the ''game before the game'' he believes all managers need to indulge in, to show his players and supporters he is their lightning rod.

More crucially, Mourinho creates a bond with his men, an inner understanding of his players, that makes them prepared to cross any barrier, put themselves on the line, for him.

Only a great can do that, at club after club. Mourinho is not just a great. He is the greatest.